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TI16 Necessity lor imDrovemeni) 



IN THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF 



District scnooi suoervision 



IN WISCONSIN. 



BULLETIN OF INFORMATION NO. 4- 



ISSUED BY 

L, D. HARVEY, 

State Superintendent. 



MADISON, WIS.: 

DEMOCRAT^PRINTING COMPANY, STATE PRINTER, 

1899. 



3^f 



I 



CONDITIOifS WHICH MAKE A CHANGE IN THE 

PEESENT SYSTEM OF SUPEEVISION 

OF THE DISTKICT SCHOOLS 

DESIKABLE. 



There were enrolled during the school year ending June 
30, 1898, in the schools under the supervision of county 
superintendents in Wisconsin 306,000 children. There were 
expended for the maintenance of these schools during 
the same year, $3,171^000. Over ninety-five per cent, of 
the children enrolled in the rural schools attend no higher 
schools, but go directly from the district schools to the affairs of 
life. These schools were taught by 9,800 teachers, under the 
supervision of seventy-two county superintendents. 

Where interests so large are involved as the education for citi- 
zenship of over 300,000 children annually in these schools, nec- 
essitating the expenditure of so large a sum of money raised by 
voluntary taxation, it is important for those concerned with 
the administration of educational affairs, as well as for those 
who pay the taxes, and whose children are being educated, that 
the best possible returns for the expenditure shall be realized. 

QUALIFIED TEACHERS AND CLOSE SUPERVISION A NECESSITY. 

In order to secure the highest results in the administration of 
these schools, two things are absolutely essential, and need only 
to be stated to command the assent of every intelligent citizen. 
The first is that these schools shall be in the charge of persons 
thoroughly qualified to do the work of teaching in such a man- 
ner as shall secure the best possible training with the least loss 
of time. The second is that there shall be efficient and organ- 
ized supervision of the work of the teachers in these schools. 
The necessity for this supervision is evident when we take into 
consideration the fact that not less than one-third of the entire 



— 4 — 

teaching force in these schools drops out each year, and their 
places are filled by new, and in most cases, inexperienced, 
teachers. Without careful supervision the work of an entire 
term may be practically wasted because of the inexperience and 
inefficiency of the teacher ; or, if work is well done during a 
term, the next teacher may fail to inform himself of the work 
done by the preceding teacher, assume that all pupils in the 
school should begin the work in each subject anew, and thus 
waste the time of the pupils in going over again and again work 
which has been done before. Effective supervision will remove 
this difficulty, and save time to the pupils and keep alive their 
interest because new work is given them. 

'No man engaged in any industrial enterprise where any con- 
siderable number of men are employed and any large expendi- 
tures made, thinks of carrying it on without providing for close 
and effective supervision at every stage in the progress of the 
work. The lumberman provides for it among his men in the 
lumber woods. When the logs are taken to the mill the same 
close and effective supervision of the men employed in cutting 
them into the varion; grade- of lumber and handling this lumber 
until the time ii is shipped to the points of destination, is contin- 
ued. When the limiber reaches the factory where it is to be 
worked up into various finished products, the value of supervi- 
sion is fully recognized, and must be taken advantage of if the 
manufacturing enterprise is successful. The same thing is true 
in every phass of organized industrial or commercial activity. 
It must be evident that sound business principles demand that 
in the expenditure annually of $3,171,000 for any purpose of 
such vital importance as the education of the citizens of the 
state, there must be careful and effective supervision of the per- 
sons employed to do this work. 

FAILURE OF ,THE PEESENT SYSTEM. 

The present system which provides for the examination and 
certification of teachers, and the supervision of these schools by 
the county superintendents, fails in almost every county of the 
state to meet the two requirements named. The county super- 
intendent examines teachers to determine their qualifications, 



and issues certificates which legally qualify them to teach. It 
is also made a part of his duty to visit the schools and supervise 
the work done in them. When the superintendent has been 
elected and is ready to enter upon his work, what are the con- 
ditions which confront him ? l^inety per cent, of the super- 
intendents of the state say this year, and what is true this year 
has been true in^any year since the county super intendency w^ent 
into effect, that they are unable to limit the issue of certificates 
to people whom they believe to be thoroughly qualified for the 
work of teaching ; that they are beset by political influence de- 
manding that certificates shall be issued to friends or relatives 
of the political supporters of this officer without reference to 
qualifications. If they fail to accede to these demands, they are 
threatened with defeat in the next nominating convention, or 
at the polls. Here and there a man is found strong enough and 
independent enough, because not entirely dependent upon the 
salary of the ofiice for a livelihood, to stand up manfully and re- 
fuse to issue certificates for any reasons except that the per- 
sons applying for them show the necessary educational qualifica- 
tions. Such men are rare, however, and frequently pay the 
penalty of their convictions by defeat at the polls. Their suc- 
cessors take warning from the fate of their predecessors, and do 
not attempt to fight what they deem to be the inevitable. What 
are the results ? Certificates are issued to a number of people 
far in excess of the number of schools in the oounty, sometimes 
to double the number, with the inevitable result that a large 
number of immature, unqualified teachers are legally entitled to 
teach. Many of these people are engaged to take charge of 
schools, and in numerous cases the entire expenditure for the 
maintenance of such schools is worse than wasted. ISTot only 
have the children gained nothing, but they have actually lost, 
because they have lost an interest in their work, and bad mental 
habits have been developed. It is hardly fair to blame the 
county superintendents for failure to stand up against this po- 
litical pressure. They are simply human. In most cases they 
are either dependent upon the salary which they receive for their 
support, or they are holding the office as a mere makeshift, in- 
tending to leave it as early as possible for some more congenial 



6 — 



employment. In either case, tkey do what nineteen people out 
of twenty would do under similar circumstances, stifle their own 
convictions, yield to the pressure, and subject the schools to the 
rule of immaturity and inefficiency. 

In regard to the second requirement, that of effective super- 
vision, what does the superintendent find ? In a large number 
of counties in the state, the number of schools is so great as to 
make even one visit to each of them during the school year prac- 
tically impossible. In a number of counties of this state there 
are many schools which the superintendents have not been able 
to visit during the past year, and there are a number of coun- 
ties where it is credibly reported that there are schools where 
three or four years have elapsed without a visit from the county 
superintendent. In most cases this is no fault of the superin- 
tendent. In Dodge county there are 235 teachers at work in 
the district schools. In Grant county, 294. In many other 
counties the number ranges from one to two hundred. When 
we consider the demands made upon the superintendent in con- 
ducting two series of examinations yearly in different parts of 
his county, and examining the hundreds of sets of examina- 
tion papers, the time required to do the necessary office work, and 
the travel necessary to reach the different schools in his county, 
it will be evident that the task set him is one beyond the power 
of mortal man to accomplish. Effective supervision does not 
mean an hour's visit to a school once a year, or even once a 
term. When we consider the large number of inexperienced 
teachers engaged in each county every year, and realize that 
in many cases it is impossible for the superintendent to reach 
these teachers until nearly the close of their term of service, it 
will be evident that such visits are productive of little or no 
good, and only serve to emphasize the lack of any supervisory 
force. In some counties in the state the number of schools is suf- 
ficiently small, so that superintendents are able to do effective 
work in supervision. It they could be relieved from the politi- 
cal pressure which forces them to issue certificates to people un- 
qualified, their work would be effective, and the schools would 
take a high grade. In a few counties in the state this condi- 
tion obtains, but it is not too much to say that even in these 



counties when a person is elected to the office who is not strong 
enough to stand up against the demands of political influence, 
he may do an injury to those schools in a single term which can 
not be repaired by even the most efficient and independent super- 
intendent during the next four years. These conditions are not 
over stated. Twenty years of observation and experience in 
dealing with the rural school problem, supplemented by the 
frank and candid statements of a vast majority of the superin- 
tendents, prove that the facts have here been understated, rather 

than overstated. 

\ 

COMPLAINT THAT THE INTERESTS OF THE DISTRICT SCHOOLS 
HAVE BEEN IGNORED. 

For years there has been heard the statement from numerous 
sources throughout the state, that in our educational interests the 
common schools have been neglected; that the legislature has, 
with liberal hand, provided for the needs of the university, and 
the normal schools, the high schools and the institutions for the 
criminal and defective and dependent classes, but that prac- 
tically nothing has been done to improve the character of the 
training given to the great "mass of the children in the state in 
the common schools. Are these statements true? They are 
believed to be by the men and women engaged in educational 
work, almost without exception ; they are believed to be true by 
thousands of the citizens of the state not directly engaged in 
educational work, but who are interested in the education of 
their children. They are believed to be true, not only in this 
state, but in every state in the Union, and three years ago the 
N"ational Educational Association, the largest and most power- 
ful educational association in the world, appointed a committee 
of twelve of the acknowledged leaders in educational work in 
the United States, to investigate this problem of education in 
the rural schools, and to prepare a report setting forth its con- 
ditions, the necessity for and means of improving them. This 
committee spent two years in investigating the subject, and has 
prepared a most elaborate report covering the entire field. 
While they take up other sources of weakness in the rural 
schools, they emphasize most emphatically the two sources al- 



ready mentioned, and make clear the necessity for bettering 
these conditions before any considerable improvement in the 
common schools can be expected. This is the mature con- 
viction of a body of men who have been studying educational 
problems all their lives. ISTot simply teachers, but men with 
administrative and executive ability, men of affairs as well, who 
discuss the question and reach their conclusions not only from an 
educational standpoint, but from the standpoint of business or- 
ganization, as well. While we have been deploring this condi- 
tion of the common schools year after year, those interested and 
upon whom the responsibility naturally devolves, have been 
seeking for some way to remedy matters. The necessity for 
radical change in the plan of organization has become manifest 
whenever and wherever the problem has been investigated, but 
the fear of opposition to any radical measure has deterred those 
interested in most cases from proposing any remedy. 

A REMEDY PROPOSED AND ITS HISTORY GIVEN. ' 

Bill 263, S., and concurrent bill 491, A., is a measure some- 
what radical in its nature, but which has been prepared with the 
conviction that if any attempt is made to improve these schools 
it is wise to put fully before the people existing conditions, and 
to propose such a remedy as may reasonably be expected to re- 
move the existing evils without bringing into existence new and 
greater evils. This measure is not of sudden growth, but in out- 
line was proposed to the State Teachers' Association in 1890. It 
was approved by that body without a dissenting vote. A com- 
mittee was appointed by that association to prepare in detail 
a plan for the reorganization of the supervision of these schools, 
and to report at its next meeting. In 1891 the committee pre- 
sented its report. This report was again adopted by a unani- 
mous vote of the association. A committee on legislation from 
that body was appointed, and instructed to prepare a bill em- 
bodying the recommendations of the report, and to present it 
to the legislature. The committee discharged this duty, pre- 
pared the bill, and it was introduced at the legislative session of 
1892, but failed of adoption. The present bill is practically the 
same measure. It has been introduced in response to the de- 



— 9 — 

mands fmm a large number of peoplei engaged in educational 
•work in tk© state, an4 in response to what is believed to be a 
feeling general throughout the state, that there is a crying need 
for improveinent in the rural schools. A synopsis of the bill is 
herewith presented, which sets forth in detail its provisions. 
That it is a radical measure is admitted. The interests of 
300,000 children who are attending these schools, the interests 
of the parents of these children, and others who pay the taxes 
for the support of them demanding the best possible teaching 
obtainable in these schools, and that radical changes are neces- 
sary to secure such teaching, are the reasons which convince the 
authors of the bill that it is a wise measure, though it be a radi- 
cal one. 

ESSENTIAL PBOVISIONS OF THE BILL. 

The bill provides for the abolition of the office of county 
superintendent, and the creation of that of district inspector of 
common schools in its stead. It provides for the creation of a 
state board, who are to appoint the district inspectors. This pro- 
posed board to consist of the professor of pedagogy of the uni- 
versity, board of examiners for state certificates, and the insti- 
tute condnctor from each normal school. The state superin- 
tendent is to appoint an assistant, who shall act as secretary of 
tlie board. The salary proposed for the secretary is two thou- 
sand dollars. 

The bill ])rovides for the creation of not more than one hun- 
dred and fifteen inspection districts, the boundaries thereof to 
bo determined by the board, the number of schools in the several 
districts to bo as nearlj^ equal as may be, the districts of com- 
pact form and contiguous territory, and bounded by township 
lines ; the boundary lines to be changed or new districts added 
when made necessary by growth of population. The inspectors 
first appointed to enter upon the duties of their office on the first 
Monday of January, 1901, and to continue to serve until July 
1, 1903, the terms thereafter to begin on like dates and continue 
for two years. Provision is made for filling of vacancies whether 
Cf, sed by death, resignation or removal. Inspectors must be se- 
lected from residents of the inspection districts for which they 



.-10-- 

are appointed, and- must possess the same educational qualifica- 
tions as required for county superintendents under existing laws. 
The board is given authority to prepare rules and regulations 
for forming examination districts and keeping records. 

The bill provides for a salary of one thousand dollars for each 
inspector, and five dollars additional for each school or depart- 
3nient thereof in his inspection district, this amount to be in full 
for services, expenses and stationery, and provides for the reten- 
tion from the one-mill tax of a sufficient sum from each inspec- 
tion district to pay the salary of the inspector of that district, 
and for apportionment of the amount not so retained. It gives 
the district inspectors the same powers as county superintendents. 
The members of the board are to receive no salary, but are to be 
paid five dollars a day for services in attendance upon the meet- 
ings of the board, and necessary expenses incurred in attending 
such meetings, two meetings being provided for annually. 

COMPOSITIOiSr AND QrALIFICATIONS OF THE PROPOSED APPOINT- 
ING BOARD. 

It is believed that the composition of the appointive board pro- 
vided for by this measure is such as to make it an ideal board 
for the purposes for which it is created. The men who consti- 
tute the board are in every case selected originally with refer- 
ence to their ability to perform other educational work of the 
highest quality. The professor of pedagogy in the university is 
selected by the president of the university because of his eminent 
qualifications for the work there required of him. He is elected 
by the board of university regents. The institute conductor 
from each normal school is selected by the president of that nor- 
mal school with reference to his ability, first to do institute work 
jand properly represent the school throughout the state, and, sec- 
ond, for his ability as a teacher in the school. He is elected 
upon the recommendation of the president of the school, by the 
board of normal school regents. The three members of the state 
board of examiners are appointed by the state superintendent 
with reference to their learning, experience, breadth of view, 
and common sense in determining the qualifications of teachers. 
Since that board has been organized its members have been se- 



— 11 — 

kctcd from among the leaders in educational work in the state, 
ajid without reference to their party affiliations.. IsTo state super- 
i:.tcndent would dare to appoint a man to this position who did 
net ])ossess the qualifications above indicated. Hundreds of peo- 
ple come before this board annually, and any incompetence or 
political bias manifested by the members would subject the state 
superintendent who appointed them to such criticism as would 
make his position a burden to him. These facts remove abso- 
lutely any fear of partisan bias or 'of the exercise of political in- 
fluence by the board in making appointments. What are the 
further qualifications of the members of the board ? First — The 
members of this board together will know personally every per- 
sin in the state of Wisconsin eligible to the office of inspector. 
The professor of pedagogy in the university will know the uni- 
versity graduates who become eligible, because of personal con- 
tact with them in the class room. The members of the state 
board of examiners will know personally the qualifications of 
every individual coming before them for examination and th-ere 
securing legal qualification for the office. The institute conduct- 
ors will together know every graduate from the normal schools 
who becomes eligible to the office, thus covering the entire 
ground of eligibility. 

Second — The professor of pedagogy in the university and tho 
institute conductors from the normal schools cover practically 
every county in the state each year in the institute work. One of 
the menlbers of this board has been engaged for twenty years 
in the institute work, and has probably worked in every county 
of the state, and in most of them many times. Every member 
of the board, as it would exist under this law, has had many 
years of service as a teacher in the state, and knows the local 
conditions in a large number of the different counties. It will 
thus be seen that the board as constituted is made up of men 
non-partisan in character, who know the people eligible to the 
office of inspector, and who know the local conditions. The 
different interests which they represent will demand of them 
the greatest care and the highest efficiency in the selection of 
their appointees. It may seem that the preponderance of nor- 
mal-school men is unwise. There are two reasons why this is 



— 12 — 

not true. First-^They are and have been broad minded, intelli- 
gent men, who com© in contact with people outside their profes- 
sion in all parts of the state, and thus come to know the senti- 
ments of communities better than those who are confined closely 
to the work of the school room. Second — Each institute man 
ip concerned to see that no other normal school has in any way 
the advantage over his own, and any attempt to secure an undue 
advantage would create opposition, on the part of every other 
normal school man on the board. Third — The character of the 
men who have held these positions since the organization of tho 
normal school system, and the fact that they have ever been 
ready to assist qualified teachers, no matter where they were 
trained, in securing positions, is evidence that there would be 
no abuse of the appointing power by them. Fourth-^One of the 
most important functions of this board is the organization with 
their appointees, of the work of inspection on a business basis. 
Every time the professor of pedagogy in the university or the 
conductor goes out for work in any county of the state, he will 
go as a representative of the board, to advise with and counsel 
and assist the inspector in carrying out the plan of organization 
decided upon. The institute conductors come into vital rela- 
tions with the inspectors in every institute which they conduct. 
As members of this board they would be able to secure the most 
hearty co-operation and intelligent action toward realizing the 
best results from institute work. 

These are some of the reasons which it would seem must re- 
move the objections to such a board which may be entertained by 
an unbiased man, and which are based on the fear that it may 
become a political machine. 

THE STATE SUPEEINTENDEKT IN NO WAY CONCERNED WITH THE 
APPOINTMENT OF THE DISTRICT INSPECTORS. 

It has been charged that the state superintendent is to appoint 
the inspectors. The bill has been framed with special care to 
remove the state superintendent as far as possible from any re- 
lations with the appointing power. His relations with the ap- 
pointees by this board are exactly the same as they now are with 
the county superintendents. It was urged in the committee that 



— 13 — 

framed the bill originally that the state superintendent should 
be a member of the board. The present state superintendent, 
who was a member of the committee, insisted that this was un- 
wise, that he was the only elective officer connected in any way 
with the plan of organization, and that he should not be subject 
to the charge which might be made, of using his political influ- 
ence for his own interests. Furthermore, that he was the officer 
to whom appeals would lie from the ruling of the inspectors, and 
that in deciding these appeals it would be eminently unwise that 
he should constitute a part of the appointing power which had 
placed these inspectors in their positions. 

SECEETAKY OF THE BOARD. 

Provision is made for a secretary of the board, who simply 
acts in that capacity as a keeper of records for the board, and 
performs such clerical work as may devolve upon him in that 
position. By the terms of the bill he is to be appointed by the 
state superintendent as an assistant. The work which he would 
be assigned outside of the duties as secretary would be chiefly 
that of looking after the organization, course of study and man- 
agement of the graded schools of two, three or four departments, 
which have no high school connected with them. There are 319 
of these schools in the state. Their courses of study are in 
chaotic condition, as they are practically without any supervi- 
sion at all. The county superintendents in the main feel that 
their work lies more largely with the ungraded schools, and that 
the person in charge of tlie school, as principal, is better able to 
plan and organize the Avork in the grades^ of his school than are 
the teachers in the ungraded schools. This principal teacher if 
usually required to teach every hour in the day, and is often hire- 
self lacking in tho knowledge which is essential to the proper 
classification and grading of such a school. Its course of study 
is frequently unfitted to the needs of the pupils. The state of 
Minnesota, with less than a hundred such schools, has a state in- 
spector, whose whole time is given to work in them. It has for a 
long time been the feeling among educational men that there 
should be some direct assistance given to these schools from the 
office of the state superintendent, but without an increased force 



■ — 14 — 

such work is impossible. It has been suggested in some quar- 
ters that such an officer might be a very valuable man to pub- 
lishing houses, the insinuation being that honest men could not 
be found to fill such a position. Such a gratuitous insult to the 
intelligence and integrity of the teaching force of the state 
from which such officer would be selected is entirely unwar- 
ranted. 

TEKM OF OFFICE. 

The bill contemplates no change in the term of office after the 
first term, except a change in time, from January 1, to July 1, 
when the term shall begin. This puts the inspector into his 
position before the opening of the schools for the year, and if 
he retires from the position at the close of his term, at such a 
time as will not interfere with the work in his district. It also 
enables any retiring inspector to enter upon the work of teaching 
at the opening of the next school year. As it now is, if a county 
superintendent retires from office December 31, and wishes to 
enter upon the business of teaching, he is usually compelled to 
wait until the following September to secure a position. The ap- 
pointment of inspectors is to be made by the board for each term 
of two years, from residents of the inspection district for which 
the appointment is made. They must possess the same educa- 
tional qualifications as are now required for county superintend- 
ents. They must have an acquaintance with the common 
schools, experience in teaching, and general executive ability. 
The reasonableness of continuing the present qualifications must 
be evident to all. While an educational qualification does not 
alone determine one's fitness for the position of inspector, it is 
one of the essentials. As has already been indicated, the mem- 
bers of this board have exceptional opportunities for determin- 
ing the other elements of fitness possessed by the different per-~ 
sons who may be eligible. 

BETTER BUSINESS ORGANIZATION OF THE WORK OF SUPERVISION 

WILL RESULT. 

The bill provides for securing the necessary records for the 
inspector's office, and for the office of the state superintendent, 
and for making such reports as are required. As the payment of 



— lb- 
salaries is dependeHt upon the making of such records and re- 
ports, and as the board has power to remove from office any in- 
spector who may be proved to be derelict or inefficient in the 
performance of his duties, it is clear that there would be no 
trouble in securing a better business management of the office 
than has ever existed under the present system. It is not un- 
common for a superintendent newly elected to the office, to find 
when he enters upon its duties that heeded records are lacking, 
and frequently that absolutely no records of any kind have been 
left by his predecessor. A superintendent who was asked for 
certain information from the state superintendent's office, re- 
plied that he had entered upon the office at the beginning of 
this year, and that there had not been left by his predecessor a 
single record of any kind. He could not tell the number of 
teachers in the county, nor could he determine who held certifi- 
cates, nor who were teaching, nor where any teacher was em- 
ployed. There was not an examination paper on file. Another 
county superintendent of one of the largest counties reported in 
the middle of February that he had been engaged since entering 
upon his office, January 2, in trying to find out who were teach- 
ing in his county ; that there were no records to show the names 
of teachers, nor where they were engaged. It is made the duty 
of the county superintendent to advise and consult with town 
clerks in the matter of selection of books for the district-school 
libraries. It must be evident that to do this wisely for his coun- 
ty, it is desirable that he shall know what books are in the differ- 
ent districts of the county, and yet not to exceed a dozen of the 
superintendents reported at the superintendents' convention held 
in February, that they had such a list on file. In many cases the 
reason given was that the demands upon their time for visiting 
schools were so great as to leave them no time for office work. It 
must also be remembered that 40 per cent, of the county super- 
intendents now in office did not hold that office during the pre- 
ceding term, and were not responsible for the failure of their 
predecessors to make and leave proper records. These are a few 
of the things that would be corrected under a system which 
would fix responsibility and hold the inspectors accountable. 
An effort has been made for a score of years to introduce a course 



— 16 — 

of studj into the rural schools, not to make them graded schools 
by any means, but to specify certain subjects which should bo 
taught, and the order in which they should be taught to- 
gether. This was designed to prevent an immense waste. 
In the old-time schools, a teacher compelled classes to turn 
back and begin their books anew each term. Unless the in- 
spection district is sufficiently small to enable the inspector to 
make close supervision, it is impossible for him to tell whether 
any attention is paid to this course of study or not, and if it ia 
used by one teacher, to determine whether sucli records are left 
by that teacher as will enable the next one to take up th© work 
where it was left off, and thus save pupils' time. The country 
boy or girl who can attend but six or seven months in a year 
has no time to waste in grinding over the same grist year after 
year, but without close supervision such waste of time and en- 
ergy is inevitable, 

COMPENSATION OF THE BOARD. 

No salary is provided in the bill. It makes provision for 
the payment of five dollars per day to members of the board for 
necessary meetings. After the first organization of the work, a 
single day at each of two meetings annually would be entirely 
ample to perform the necessary work of the board. This would 
make the total cost due to the existence of the board a mere 
trifle. 

NUMBER OF INSPECTION DISTRICTS. 

The measure provides for increasing the number of inspection 
districts from the present number, 72, to 115. The wisdom of 
this provision will be evident to any one who knows anything 
of the conditions which make it possible to secure adequate iu- 
spection of schools. This number of inspection districts would 
give an average of seventy-three schools to each inspector, the 
maximum number which any person can possibly supervise with 
any degree of effectiveness. The number of inspection districts 
should be greater, rather than smaller. When it is remembered 
that there are forty-three superintendent districts in the state 
now, with a nmnber of teachers ranging from one hundred to 



— 17 — 

two hundred ninety-four in each district, it will be seen at once 
that the gTeater portion of the state is without any adequate 
supervision. Some of the northern counties have fewer than 
seventy-three schools, but in most of these counties the schools 
are widely scattered, requiring the superintendent to travel long 
distr.nces to reach them, and the country is filling up rapidly, 
ne^v schools being organized each year, so that in a very short 
time such counties will have more than this average number. 
Reference is here made to the statements made in the first part 
of this paper as to the value of the superintendent's visitation to 
the schools conducted by ' inexperienced teachers early in the 
work of the year, and to the necessity for repeated visits to such 
teachers. With the number of schools in each inspection district 
provided for in this bill, or as near that number as local condi- 
tions may warrant, it would be possible for the inspector 
to prevent many teachers from making a failure, and the waste 
of time and money incident to such failure, where under existing 
conditions failure inevitably occurs. 

' PA 7 OF INSPECTORS. 

The provisions of the bill for payment of the inspectors would 
increase the present cost for supervision by about $84,000. This 
means that the amount of increased taxation due to this measure 
would be 14 cents on every $1,000 of assessed valuation, or 17 
cents for each child enrolled in the public schools last year, or it 
would increase the total expense for school purposes per capita 
in Wisconsin by three and seven-tenths cents. In fixing this 
salary it was the purpose to make it cover all expenses, which 
are now in many counties paid separately, and tbe cost of print- 
ing and stationery, and to make it sufiiciently large to secure the 
services of thoroughly competent men. The average salary 
would be $1,360.00 ; the average salary paid to the principals of 
four years' course high schools in this state is $1,233.00. When 
it is remembered that they have no traveling expenses to pay, 
and that their bills for stationery and printing are paid by the 
high school boards, it will be seen that the salary fixed for 
the inspectors is considerably below that of the high schools prin- 
cipals. Each inspector will find it necessary to keep a team, to 



— 18 — 

own a carriage and sleigli, and to pay" his expenses while on the 
road and also the necessary amount required for printing and 
stationery, which varies from $76 to $200 for each county. 
While the work of the district school inspector is different from 
that of a high school principal, it seems clear that its importance 
is no less, and that the work of directing the' educational forces 
in 70 to 75 schools effectively, requires ability fully the equal of 
that of the high school principal. 

IS IT WISE TO EXPEND $3,171,000 ANNUALLY FOK THE COMMON 
SCHOOLS WITHOUT USING SUCH A POKTION OF THIS SUM 
FOK SUPERVISION AS WILL SECURE THE BEST RE- 
SULTS FROM THE REMAINING EXPENDITURE ? 

With the present expenditure of $3,171,000 annually for the 
support of the common schools, it is simply a business proposi- 
tion whether expending a larger portion of this amount than 
at present for the work of close supervision, is a wise one. As 
already stated, the cry for many years has been that liberal ex- 
penditures have been made for the high schools, normal schools 
and university, but that nothing is done for the rural schools. 
The bill provides for payment of these salaries from the portion 
of the one mill tax, which would be apportioned among the dif- 
ferent inspection districts. It is believed that the increased sum 
necessary may thus be used without any increase in the burdens 
of local taxation, and that by such use the effectiveness of the 
schools would be increased very largely, using the remainder 
of the one mill tax apportionment and the sum now levied by 
local taxation for the wages of teachers and other necessary ex- 
penses. The wisdom of liberal expenditures for supervision is 
realized in all the city systems of schools. For illustration, in 
the public schools of Milwaukee there are 850 teachers, probably 
the best body of teachers in the state; nearly all of them are 
university and normal school graduates, with experience in 
teaching. These teachers are gathered within an area no greater 
than a single tovmship, and yet there is expended annually in 
Milwaukee, for supervision of these 850' teachers and 35,000 
pupils a larger sum than is expended in the entire state of Wis- 
consin, outside the cities, for the supervision of 9,800 teachers 



— 19 — 

and 306,000 pupils. It is not to be expected that as large a 
proportionate sum could be expended for supervision in the 
country as in a city like Milwaukee. , Yet when, not only in Mil- 
waid^ee, but in all of the great cities of the country it is recog- 
nized as wise economy to expend these large sums for close 
supervision, it must be evident that an increase over the present 
expenditure for supervision in the country schools scattered over 
more than 50,000 square miles of territory, taught in thousands 
of cases by teachers without any experience or professional train- 
ing, is the part of business wisdom. 

OBJECTIONS TO APPOINTMENT OF SUPEKVISOEY OEFICEES CON- 

SIDEKED. 

One of the sources of opposition to the measure naturally ex- 
pected, comes from the proposal to change the mode of selecting 
the supervisor from that of election by the people to that of ap- 
pointment by a board. The full force of this reason is realized 
by the supporters of the bill, but it is their belief that the vast 
majority of the people are far more interested in the quality 
of the training which their children receive in the schools than 
they are in the mode of selecting the officers upon whose work 
the efficiency of the schools depends. It will not do to mistake 
the views of a limited number of interested parties for the views 
of the hundreds of thousands of people who are not heard. 

A proposition to put the selection of any officer in the hands 
of any board is one that always awakens the suspicion that there 
is some political job in the background or that the centralization 
resulting from such a measure will abridge the rights of the 
people. The fact that there are few cities in the state or in 
the United States which elect superintendents of schools by 
a popular vote, and that there is no clamor on the part of 
the citizens of these cities for a change in the mode now 
employed to that of direct vote, is evidence that a large mass of 
the people believe that greater efficiency in their educational 
work can be secured through the appointive system rather 
than by the elective system. In this state the people in the 
cities are interested equally with the people in the country in 
the efficiency of the country schools. They contribute liberally 



— 20 ~- 

through taxation to the support of the schools in the country. 
A large influx of young men and women from the country to the 
cities occurs annually and the people of the city are interested 
that those from the country coming to the city life shall come 
with the best education which it is possible to give them. 

It is u.rged as being vitally important that the people in each 
county should elect the superintendent of their schools by popu- 
lar vote. The same argument was made in 1861, when the 
change was made from town superintendents to that of county 
superintendents. It was then claimed that it was taking it out 
of the hands of the people immediately interested, and trans- 
ferring the power to a larger unit, thus removing the people 
farther from the officer to be selected. The change, however, 
from the toAvn superintendent to the county superintendent was 
somewhat of an improvement, and the people have long ceased 
to feel that their interests have suffered because of the larger 
electoral unit. ^ 

THE SUPERINTENDENT OP SCHOOLS SHOTTED POSSESS CONSTRTJCT- 
IVE, ORGANIZING ABILITY REQUIRING PROFESSIONAL SKILL. 

It must be borne in mind that the office of superintendent of 
schools is different from any other county office. The duties of 
every other county officer are definitely and fully set forth in the 
statutes. Certain duties of the county superintendent are also 
enumerated in the statutes. He must examine teachers, visit 
schools, make certain reports, must conduct ah institute in his 
county each year. Beyond this the statutes do not and cannot 
properly go. Yet the chief value of the superintendent's serv- 
ices is in work entirely outside of" the performance of these 
duties. His work of supervision cannot be formulated by 
statute. His work in conducting teachers' meetings, associations 
and in general in awakening and organizing the educational 
forces of the county, are not the product of statutory enact- 
ments ; but these are the most important functions of that office. 
They are functions which are strictly professional in character, 
requiring either special training, or long experience, and, in any 
case, a high degree of skill. Every one must admit that special 
skill or professional ability in educational work is not best ob- 



— 21 — 

tained through a popular election. If it could be so obtained, 
why should not the teachers in each district be elected by popu- 
lar vote at the district meeting, instead of being appointed by the 
district board ? If it" could be so obtained, why is it that in those 
cities where the best schools are always to be found the city 
superintendents are appointed, instead of being elected by popu- 
lar vote ? That it cannot be so obtained is no reflection upon the 
intelligence of the people. It arises from the fact that the great 
ass of people are fully occupied with the daily business con- 
rns of their own vocations, and do not give the special study 
id attention to the needs of their educational system that must 
) given in order to secure its best development. That this last 
atement is correct, is sho^^m by the fact that not one parent 
twenty ever visits the school in which hi.s children are en- 
Ued once during the school year. 

DUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP ESSENTIAL TO EDUCATIONAL PEOGESS 
IN ANY LOCALITY. 

It is true that no reform is practicable which runs too iar in 
Ivance of the present attitude and views of the people to be af- 
,cted by it. It is true that no reform can be carried on success- 
illy unless supported by the intelligence of the people. This 
ight at first thought seem to be an argument against the ap- 
>intment of school superintendents, but it is equally true that 
I no school district, county or city, in this or any other state, 
as educational progress and development been inade except 
irough the impetus and guidance given by the efforts and labors 
f\^ some, leader in educational work. Point out a county in thi« 
*state in which educational ideals are high, and the schools are 
excellent, and you will find that it is because there have been 
strong men as superintendents of schools, who have awakened 
public interest and aroused the intelligence of the people, and 
directed it toward securing action for better teachers and better 
schools. Put into that same county, with its high standards, 
a superintendent lacking in character and qualities of educa- 
tional leadership, and in two years' time the educational stand- 
ards of that county will be so lowered and the schools so deteri- 
orated that it will take years under the best leadership to bring 
them back to their former position. 



22 



EESPONSIIilLITY OF THE LEGISI.ATUEE TO PEOVIDE FOE EFFICIENT 

SUPEEVISION FIXED BY THE ONE MILL. TAX AND 

COMPULSOBY ATTENDANCE LAWS. 

Is it not true that tlie legislature has put itself in such a posi- 
tion that responsibility rests upon it directly for wise action 
and radical action, if necessary, in the interests of the common 
schools ? The legislature has imposed a one mill tax upon all 
the taxable property of the state for the support of the publio 
school system. If it has the right to impose such a tax, and no 
one questions the right or the wisdom, because the business of 
public education is the business of the state, does not the exercise 
of that right carry with it the responsibility to demand such 
supervision of these schools as shall prevent that money raised by 
general taxation from being wasted by the employment of in- 
competent teachers. The legislature has no right to impose a 
tax and then allow the money thus raised by taxation to he used 
in any way hut that which is most effectice in securing the re- 
sults aimed at hy the imposition of the tax. The legislature has 
passed a compulsory-attendance law, requiring the attendance 
of every child between the ages of seven and thirteen upon some 
school, public or private, for at least twelve weeks in each year. 
What right has the legislature to enact such a law ? The right 
exists in the necessity for intelligent citizenship for the existence 
of the state, and is absolutely fundamental, but the legislature 
has no right to demand that a child shall attend the school wheth- 
er such attendance involves hardship on the part of the parents 
or not, unless that school is of such a quality as to render that at- 
tendance of value in the education of the child. Under existing 
conditions there are hundreds of schools in the state of Wis- 
consin where, from lack of qualified teachers and of proper 
supervision, the money used for their maintenance and the time 
of the children spent in them, are absolutely wasted. The child- 
ren are the losers, rather than the gainers, by attendance upon 
such schools. // the legislature has a right to tax the puhlic for 
the maintenance of puhlic schools^ if it has a right to enforce 
attendance upon these or other schools^, it is not only a right, hut 
a duty for it to see that the schools supported hy this taxation 



— 23 — 

are of the best quality attainable for the money expended ^n 
their maintenance. 

Ko ctarge can be truthfully made against this bill, that it 
interferes in any way with any private or parochial school inter- 
est, or seeks in any way to affect those interests. The bill affects 
no religious organization or interest. If enacted into a law, it 
cannot be used in any way for political purposes, further than to 
abolish politics in the management of the common school sys- 
tem. The cry that it curtails the rights of the people is a cry 
born of lack of knowledge, of timidity, or of personal or political 
interest. Shall such timidity or such interests rise higher in the 
estimation of the legislature than the interests of the htmdreda 
of thousands of children whose only education will be secured in 
the district schools ? 



WHAT IS BACK OF THIS BILL 



2" 



The question has been asked, what is back of this bill ? The 
answer is, that there is back of it the double indorsement of the 
State Teachers' Association, and of the great majority of the 
educational men and women of the state. There are back of it 
years of thought and study of the problem of how to better con- 
ditions in the rural schools. There is back of it the very general 
sentiment that the rural schools are not keeping pace in their 
progress with the other portions of our public school system. 
There is back of it the judgment of the ISTational Educational 
Association, that a change in the present system which will grant 
legal authority to teach to those only who are qualified to teach, 
and that more efficient supervision of the teachers in these 
schools are absolutely essential to their further improvement. 
There are back of it the interests of the more than 300,000 
children who were last year enrolled in these schools, and of the 
thousands more to be enrolled in each succeeding year, who are 
to be put in the balance against timidity, sentiment and political 
cowardice. There is back of it the sentiment of a large numbei 
of intelligent citizens with no political aspirations, but who be- 
lieve that the common schools constitute the most important and 
vital part of our public school system. 



— 24 — 

For thirty-eight years the schools have been under the present 
system of supervision. The state has had a marvelous develop- 
ment. Growth in every direction, industrial, commercial and 
otherwise; the educational system has grown; we are justly 
proud of our great university, of our normal school system, of 
our splendid high schools, but we have little to' be proud of in the 
common school system. 

FOEWAED. 

The proud motto of the state is "Forward." In every ma- 
terial direction that has been the motto of every citizen of the 
state from its admission into the Union, to the present time. 
Has not the time .come to take a step forward in the development 
of our common schools and to enter upon the new century un- 
trammeled by worn-out conditions, to begin a new era of progress 
which will place our state in the very front rank of all the states 
in its common school system, as it now stands to-day in the 
front rank of all that pertains to the higher education ? 



Library of Congress 
Branch Bindery, 1902 



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